Controlling device for electrically-driven machinery.



NQ. 853,565. W Y PATENTES geo?.

izaum. CGNTRGLLING DEVIGB PUR BLEQTMALLY BRIVBN MAGHIEIRY,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FREDERIC osMoNn einen or nRLrNeToN, ENGLAND.

Specificationrof Letters Patent,

Patented Mayl 14, i907.

Application filed February 28, 1906. Serial No. 803,340.

To onli whm t may concern.-

Be it known that l, FREDERIC OSMOND HUNT, a subject of the King of Great Britain, and residing at Darlington, in the county ol' Durham, England, 'have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Controlling Devices `for Electrically-Driven Machinfn'y of which the following is a specification, such as Will enable those skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to controllingdevices for electric motors and is especially applicable to the control of electrically operated elevators, cranes or similar' machines, and the object of the same is to rovide means for automatically stopping tie elevator car or similar object under varying loads at any desired level after cutting oll power. In high spoed lifts and inn those automatically controlled by' push hutten arrangements there is considerable alteration in the length of free run aftervpoW'e-r is cut o, owing to dilerences in load and also according to Whether the Vload is ascending or descending.`

The main object of this invention is to provide a means of varying the brakin effort inversely as the tor ue required for t e motor, to kee'" the loa in motion, and thereby make the ell vator always come to rest in the same range of travel after cutting o power.V

The amount of turning ell'ort exerted by an electric motor, having a constant field strength, is measured by the current passing through its armature, and Where the field strength 'is not constant the effect is in the same direction and more or less in'the same proportion. Therefore I insert in the power supply circuit, preferably in that carrying current to the armature only, an ,apparatus of the nature of an ammeter, preferably'of the moving coil ormoving iron ty This apparatus being provided with a uid friction or an electric magnetic retardingdevice and in some cases, a clamp mechanism, which holds the moving part stationary as soonY as the current is cut olr gives an'indication oi the current which Was passing through it just before the current was interru ted and there-n W fore of the turning eiiortwhic was being exff Instead of' adaptingY erted hy the. motor. such ammeter apparatus to be read llithe eye of the attendant, I cause it to' mod y the force, applied to stop the motion of the machinery.

" The accompanying drawings illustrate diagrannnatically my invention in which Figure l illustrates my ammeter ap aratus Where the braking is of purely mec ianical character and where suitably formed levers are designed to adjust the amount of s ring or dead weight pressure applied tothe rake shoes g Figs. 2 and 3 show one form of resistance regulator which forms part of my device-'in applying the method of modification of Ybraking effect to the electronamic method of braking; Figs. 1i' and 5 il estrato an electro magnetic braking device; and2 Fig. 6 illustrates a diagrannnstic'general view' el an elevator mechanism with brake Vregulator connected therewith and embodying the features as separately illustrated in Fiss. .3 and 4.

i teferring to Fig. 1 which illustrates' my animator apparatus Vdesigmicl to .adjust the spring or dead Weight pressure applied to the brake shoes, Tis a solenoid through which the current passes to the motor armature. This solenoid together With the control spring S and the three arm lever Y forms the ammeter portion of the regulator, the position of the lever Y evidently depending upon the strength of the current inthe armature circuit. W represents the force, either spring or dead Weight, which through theI medium of the levers'M and'V, applies the brake' shoes Q, Q1 to. the pulley B on the shaft -N is the end of the lever b Vrod g causesY the brake to which thejliand e released when the Vmotor isfrequired to AWork. Thus when the motor is actually runnin the lever M will belifted clear oil the rollerl which atother times sets as ulcrum for the lever M, the roller R is thus free to be adjusted by the lever Y in accordance with the current in the solenoidT. This adjustment of the fulcrum issuch that iiitheload and direction of motionhave been such'as to require a great cur.- rentto keep the load in motion, the force ap- 'pliedto stop it by the brake will ne small, Y' sind. if' the current required has been small the nbraking force will be Ylier t9 ap ly the met od ci modification of braking e Yect to the-eleetlo-dynamic method eat. I, however, pre- Yi'iraking, as in this caselthe whole of the contact maker of a `r switch which varies `tl1e`resistance in the circuit throughlwhich the motor acting as a dyllamo, soaised tosend the current; A Figs. 2 and 3 show one form of such a resistance regu- IOS ngiiicatlon of retarding forces can be car incid out by causing the amnister applaratns V*to move the.` eostat lator. A solenoid coil J, provided with two plungers C and D constitute the current measuring part of the device. The magnetic pull on plun er C is balanced against that of the spring IC, the cam F intervening in the transmission chain H, in order to correct for the variation of pull on the plunger, according to its position. The contact maker G is attached to the transmission chain H and yis thereby moved over the contacts c--c to which the rheostat of the braking circuit is attached. The current through the motor armature, when driving the liftin machinery, passes through the coil J an( raises the contact maker G more or less according to the current required to operate the machinery. The tube in which the plunger C D works is divided into two compartments and the upper one 'i with its plunger C is made to act as a dash-pot in order that the movements of the contact maker G may be com aratively slow. The plun er D is capab e of rompt movement and y means of the crank K operates the locking bar L .so that as soon as the current is cut o' from the coil J the fall of the lunger D brin s locking bar L into action aniIstops the furt er downward motion of the contact maker G, which is thus clamped at whatever place it hap ens to be in accordance with the current W ich was required to keep the load in motion. The contact maker G is pressed into intimate contact with the plates lit-k, thus including in the braking circuit the appropriate amount of resistance to cause the machine to be stopped in the prescribed distance o travel. In some cases it may be desirable to cause the lookin bar L to be brought into action by a pull o an electro magnet or solenoid con- -nected with the braking circuit.

To extend the sco e of the electro dynamic method of braking and also cause a more comfortable stop age, I not only cause the motor to be retar ed by producing current in the braking circuit, but I cause the current, so' obtained, tov pass through the coils of an electro ma etof which the brake shoes form the pole pieces, thereby obtaining 'the further braking effect of increased gri on the iron brake pulley, but also the retardi ing effect due to eddy-currents reduced in the brake pulley by virtue of t e fact that it rotates in a ma netic field. Figs. 4 and 5 show one form o? such an electro magnetic brake in which Z--Z1 are the pole pieces which act as brake shoes on the pulleys Z2. The current in the braking circuit flows through the coil 23 and energizes the pole pieces Z--Zl which act as a field magnet, while the pulle Z acts as the armature of a dynamo whi e the stopping of the machinery is bein accomplis ed. The parts of the brake medlianism are held together b brackets Z5 of non-magnetic material. is a. Solenoid which is connected to the power supply circuit when the motor is being started, and lifts the brake shoes clear off .the pulley iii the usual way, while the motor is driving the machinery. This solenoid F may in some cases be combined with thc regulating d evice so as to take the place of the solenoid used therein. In some cases it may be' advisable to put windings on the pulley to form paths for the eddy currents 11i the same manner as is commonl done 'u on the rotors of polyphase mac inery.

here alternating currents are to be used for driving the machinery similar `arrangements can be madebut it is `necessary also to make such modification of the motor itself so as to allow the device being used as a self exciting generator.' i

In Fig. 6 an extended diagrammatic view illustrates the circuits uniting the various features which represeiit'iny preferred form of brake regulating device applied to an elevator hoisting apparatus. A reversing switch m is shown in the off-position, prior to the brake coming into action. In this position the switch m connects the armature terminals n to the resistance of the brake regulator at G. The position of this regulator G has been 'determined during .the ruiming of the car which is supposed to be now ceasing. The position of this contact at lc is determined by that of the plunger C in the coil J. It will be noted that thisr coil J is included in the circuit which supplies current to the armature when the car is runnin therefore the' position of the, contact 'ma er at J maybe said to de end upon the value of the current require to move the load, and it will be seen that when the current is great the'contact moves in such a wa as to include asmuch resistance as possib e in the'.l armature circuit during the period of ailiplying the brake. As the motor is during t at time acting as dynamo and thus contributing to the braking effect, the result of including a maximumamount of resistance will be, to make the dynamic action of the motor, whenstopping a minimum. On the other hand if during therunning of the car the current in the armature and therefore in coil J has been small, the contact at G will include very little resistance in the circuit and consequently the dynamo action of the motor, when stopping, will be a maximum. Thus if the load has been such as to re uirea large current to keep it in motion and t erefore will be prone'to stop quickly by itself, the brakin effort applied will be a minimum, and if t e load has been such as to require only a small current to kee it in motion, the braking effort will be a lied at a maximum. It is therefore possifife by this means to cause the car to` come to rest within the same len th of travel whatever may be the load iii t ie car or the direction in which the saine is traveling. In the case swisc m is the 1151331 construction, s 9,93 the iermnas of shunt Winding j 'mnd wiaxgs, ze. pesens iwan-infuiztve safety {mi} and ihm ae smwn n thediagammatic View of Fg. 6 in order to make the same compee @gid eperative.

Having uy desribr my invent:

:swans of ionmling resistance@ Ydepin pan ih@ vala@ of thv furreni. rilqm movie the kami.

E well as th herenefefe feferred to reversmgf 'a' 'mig-131mm 9;' maximum to suit require--i sta, wen stopping,"

'motorj the smbgm with the electric .fswtor of anV Qerate eeetric circuit, a rake and & 'ke regulaing deviceJ he XS". LANDALE, Jim?? @nu :mi WAL'ION, 

